Leniency and Damages
37 Pages Posted: 20 Feb 2015 Last revised: 10 Oct 2016
There are 2 versions of this paper
Leniency and Damages
Date Written: November 29, 2015
Abstract
Modern antitrust engenders a possible conflict between public and private enforcement due to the central role of Leniency Programs. Damage actions may reduce the attractiveness of Leniency Programs for cartel participants if their cooperation with the competition authority increases the chance that the cartel’s victims will bring a successful suit. A long legal debate culminated in a EU directive, adopted in November 2014, which seeks a balance between public and private enforcement. It protects the effectiveness of a Leniency Program by preventing the use of leniency statements in subsequent actions for damages and by limiting the liability of the immunity recipient to its direct and indirect purchasers. Our analysis shows such compromise is not required: limiting the cartel victims’ ability to recover their loss is not necessary to preserve the effectiveness of a Leniency Program and may be counter-productive. We show that damage actions will actually improve its effectiveness, through a legal regime in which the civil liability of the immunity recipient is minimized (as in Hungary) and full access to all evidence collected by the competition authority, including leniency statements, is granted to claimants (as in the US).
Keywords: Private and public enforcement, cartels, competition policy, Leniency Program
JEL Classification: C72, C73, D43, D81, H11, K21, K42, L13, L44, L51
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation